Before I get to my answers I have a question for you. Do you like the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas? If your answer is no, if you thought it was the worst movie ever made, than skip the Haunted Mansion until January. Because this overlay is a complete remake. Disney changed out everything. From the intro, to the elevator ride, to the hallway, to the scenes viewed from the doom buggies, everything is different.

I am blah about the movie. It’s okay but I would not pick it to watch by myself. It happens to be one of my husband’s favorite movies so I have seen it many times. Therefore, while I wasn’t thrilled before I went on the attraction, I wasn’t repulsed.

Okay, enough stalling. Is it good? I would say yes. They did a wonderful job of bringing the story and the characters to life. It is very different but I actually enjoyed the changes more than I enjoy the movie. I would recommend everyone see it once, unless you absolutely despise the movie, so you can form your own opinion.

I only had one problem with the overlay and if you visit the park this December you won’t have this problem. I rode the attraction in September and even though Jack and his friends live in Halloweentown there is nothing about the overlay that made me think of Halloween. There are pumpkins but they are decorated for Christmas. It felt a little odd being immersed in Christmas in September. I’m sure that the discomfort I felt would disappear if I saw it again in December.

So take a chance. If you are visiting Disneyland go see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay at the Haunted Mansion. It may become your favorite seasonal event or you may look forward to the 999 happy haunts taking back their home in January. Either way you’re sure to have a spooky time. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: If you want to have unique Christmas photos for your cards then stand in line and have your picture taken with the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack, Sally, and others can be found outside the Haunted Mansion all season long. Jack is even in his Santa costume. Scary and merry!

Image from www.spoonful.com

I love advent calendars. I love the idea of counting down each day until Christmas, and if there is a treat along with it than that is even better. I also love to do crafty things so when I found these advent calendar ideas on spoonful.com I was excited.

My advent calendar is a wooden tree that I made in high school. I found it again in college and turned it into an advent calendar by screwing twenty-three hooks into it and making a miniature ornament for each day. Day 24 is for the angel on top. It is fun to decorate the tree each day and a tradition that I enjoy. The paper tree advent calendar reminds me of my own tree.

My favorite one of these advent calendars is the forest of trees. It would be really fun to make the trees with the whole family. I would put a Hershey kiss under each tree and then everyone in the family could take turns removing a tree. When I was a kid we had a simple advent calendar with doors. My brother and I took turns opening the doors, but we both wanted to do the even days so we could open door number 24. I smile when I think of that.

Do you have an advent calendar tradition? If you don’t perhaps you could start your tradition by getting together with your family and making an advent calendar. Then you’ll have great memories every December as you count down the days, and something more to smile about. Happiness squared.

Goofy Craft: Need some Disney in your decorating? This advent calendar is full of your favorite Disney characters. I know I would have a blast opening these doors every day until Christmas.

Image from www.spoonful.com

Christmas cards are fraught with problems. If you don’t send any then you feel guilty when you receive some from friends and family. If you type up a nice family letter you hear that it is considered bragging. The photo cards are nice, but they take planning and it is already after Thanksgiving. You could just send an email card, but they are hard for people to enjoy the whole season. What is the answer?

My answer is to do whatever you want. It is the thought that counts. But if you want to send cards that everyone is sure to love consider having your kids make cards. This is easier than it sounds. While the kids are home for Thanksgiving break pull out the paper, the crayons, the scissors, and the glue. And if you need some ideas check out these cards from spoonful.com.

Any card made by a child is special and they cannot do it wrong. If you want to make lots of cards that are the same, like the gingerbread man card, you can set it up assembly-line style. I really like these cards because they are made with sandpaper and I think that is so inventive. They also have cinnamon and nutmeg rubbed on the sandpaper so they smell good and the card becomes an ornament. If you didn’t want to add the scroll you could just write on the back of the gingerbread man. Any of these cards can be adapted to your needs. That is part of the fun of making handmade cards. They are perfect in every way.

In one afternoon you can have all your cards ready to go. As a reward for being so organized you can make a fun card holder for your own house. I like the one made with an upside down tomato stake. Talk about creative! You’ll need it because when everyone receives your awesome card they will feel guilty and send a card back to you. Happiness squared.

Goofy Craft: If you are super organized get the perfect Christmas card photo while you are visiting the Disney parks during the year. Pack Santa hats in your backpack and find the perfect backdrop. Everyone dons a hat and you have your picture. With a little planning you can end your Christmas card stress!

Image from www.spoonful.com

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I hope everyone has wonderful plans. I always liked Thanksgiving when I was a child because lots of relatives came to our house and we got to have food that I loved, but only ate once or twice a year. My brother and I were the only kids at the table and we got to sit with the adults. However, if you have a lot of children coming to your house for Thanksgiving it might be more fun for them to have their own area so they don’t have to listen to the boring adults talk all night.

Why not make their table even more special by making it first a craft table and then a dinner table? They’ll love coming to your house when they get to make Thanksgiving decorations for the dinner table and color fun place mats. So click here for great Thanksgiving kids crafts from spoonful.com. You’ll be surrounded by grateful kids and their parents. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: Have you ever thought about visiting the Disney Parks for Thanksgiving? Lots of the restaurants in the parks and resorts have special menus and seating times to celebrate the day. You can have all the fun of Disney and Thanksgiving and not have to slave away in the kitchen. Just make sure you tip your wait staff well to show your gratitude. They are working so you can have a great Disney trip.

Image from Oh My Disney

If you are in the northern realms you may be noticing that winter is waiting impatiently to take over from fall. The temperature is dropping and it is harder to stay warm. Gloves, scarves, and hot cocoa can help but if you want to warm your insides take a look at these heartwarming Disney pictures. Some of them make me laugh, some of them make me cry, but all of them make me go “awwww.”

Go a step further this weekend. Don’t just admire the picture, watch the movie. If you want something really emotional I suggest WALL-E or Up. If you prefer more humor than try Hercules or the Incredibles. And if you want to see an adorable snowman you’ll have to wait for Thanksgiving, when Frozen comes to theaters. Whatever you choose these movies will keep you warm inside as the temperature drops outside. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: If you want more than a movie to keep you warm check out disneystore.com for some fun Disney coats, scarves, hats, and gloves. They have lots of characters to choose from and something for every member of the family.

Image from www.spoonful.com

Halloween is tomorrow and nothing says Happy Halloween more than a jack ‘o-lantern glowing on your porch. I always carve my pumpkins as close to Halloween as I can because they get moldy really quickly. If you have not carved a pumpkin yet, or if you want to add more to your collection (you can’t have too many jack ‘o-lanterns) check out these great pumpkin carving templates from spoonful.com. They are easy enough for novices to do and everyone will be really impressed with your carving ability. Happiness Squared.

Goofy Quote: (One of my favorite Halloween movies is the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. This animated movie does a fantastic job of telling the tale of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Bing Crosby sings and narrates the story and it is suitably spooky. This is the last line of the film. Imagine it in a Bing Crosby’s voice. I get chills just reading it.)

Next morning, Ichabod’s hat was found, and close beside it, a shattered pumpkin, but there was no trace of the schoolmaster. It was shortly thereafter that Brom Bones led the fair Katrina to the altar. Now, rumors persisted that Ichabod was still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county. But of course, the settlers refused to believe such nonsense, for they knew the schoolmaster had been spirited away by the Headless Horseman.

Image from www.spoonful.com

Halloween is the one time of the year when we can celebrate evil Disney villains. Why would we do this? Aren’t we supposed to hate the villians? Aren’t they the bad guys? Don’t they mess up the lives of our lovely princesses and brave princes? Sure, but if there were no villains there would be no story. Who wants to read a story that goes like this:

Snow White had a happy life and when she was a teenager she wished for a prince. One showed up and they got married and lived happily ever after.

Boring!!!

In fact, there is probably no happily ever after if there are no villains, because without the villain the prince and princess would think life is always cheerful and they would become as bored with it as the reader does. So we should thank a villain for strengthening our favorite stories and not boring us to tears.

How can we celebrate villains? It’s easy with the help of spoonful.com. My favorite idea is to make villain cupcakes with paper toppers. They would be great for a class Halloween party or a Halloween party at your house. If you are going to have a party at your house you’ll need invitations and spoonful.com has some awesome ones you can print out. Why not have everyone get dressed up as their favorite Disney villain? There are a variety of masks and hats that can be made as party favors.

If you celebrated Disney villains in April it might seem weird, but October is the perfect time to show of your (slightly) evil side. Just avoid anyone who offers you an apple. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: Even though you don’t want to accept poisoned apples I would have lots of apples at my Disney villain party. Bob for apples. Serve baked apples, sliced apples with caramel dip, and apple juice. Play pin the apple on Snow White and give apples as party favors.

Image from www.spoonful.com

I love Autumn. I love Halloween. So it makes sense that I love October. It’s also my birthday month but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it. One thing I love to do in October is decorate my house from top to bottom. I have so many fun decorations and I am always looking for more. Being a crafty person if I can make a decoration than I want to. This year I am going batty thanks to spoonful.com.

Spoonful.com is Disney’s go-to website for family-oriented crafts and recipes and their Halloween crafts are too fun. My absolute favorite this year are the origami bats. I just don’t think I can have too many. They are so easy to make (they only have five steps) and how fun would it be to hang them all over, high and low? Plus these can be made as a class art project or at a Halloween party. I love ideas this easy, this versatile, and this fun. Plus bats are spooky which makes them perfect for Halloween. I’m ready to go batty, how about you? Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: If you want some batty fun at Disneyland than head over to the Halloween Carnival at the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree. There are a ton of fun Halloween activities there including a coloring area where you can color a mask for Halloween. They have witches, cats, and spiders, but I chose the bat. There is no need to ask why.

If you need help learning to talk like a pirate than you obviously need to watch Pirates of the Caribbean tonight. This series of movies has such a variety of pirates that you will have no problem learning to talk like one.

It can be hard to talk like a pirate in everyday conversation so I am including some phrases you can use that will work in lots of situations. Try them out tomorrow and remind all your friends to talk like a pirate so that they’ll be really bad eggs, just like you. Happiness squared.

“I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means “no”.” Barbossa

“Savvy?” Jack Sparrow

“Pirate.” This is said by many pirates and is a great response when someone is shocked by something you have done.

“Curse you for breathin’ ya slack-jawed idiot.” Mr. Gibbs

“Me? I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredibly… stupid.” Jack Sparrow

“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.” Jack Sparrow

“Wind in the sails. Wind in the sails.” Mr. Cotton’s parrot (they think he means yes)

“You’re off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters.” Barbossa (this is my favorite quote and I use it often, not just on “Talk Like a Pirate Day”)

“You’re pirates. Hang the code, and hang the rules. They’re more like guidelines anyway.” Elizabeth

“Haul on the main brace, make ready the guns… and run out the sweeps.” Barbossa (he definitely sounds like a pirate)

“Strike your colors, ya bloomin’ cockroaches.” Barbossa (another good pirate quote)

Goofy Tip: Why just talk like a pirate when you can dress up like one, too? I am not suggesting a full pirate outfit, although it you can it would be awesome. No, I am just suggesting you dress with some pirate flair. Maybe a great pair of pirate boots, or a blousy shirt with a scarf for a belt. Use your imagination and have fun. Drink up me hearties, yo ho!

I think photos make amazing gifts. They are personal and can often be useful if they are turned into coasters or bookends. I always love it when people give me photos even if they are just in a frame because it is often a photo I don’t have and I know I will enjoy looking at it often.

So if you want to give photos as gifts the time to start working on the gift is now. Are you going to be doing things with your friends and family before December? Make plans to take pictures of each person or each group of people. Don’t just assume you’ll remember. I have often had such a good time with my family that I forgot to take photos. I always kick myself afterwards.

Also, if you are planning to turn your photos into a gift know how many photos you will need. If your collage frame holds six pictures plan to take ten or twelve so that you have lots to choose from. I once got some lovely glass coasters that each had a slot to slide a photo in. There were four coasters and four members of the family I was giving them to. I planned to get multiple shots of each person so I would have the perfect photo for each coaster.

It is also important to know if you need upclose photos or large group photos for your gift plans. Plus if you are going to be at a Disney park you will want to know each person’s favorite ride or character so you can take photos that include their interests.

If you plan ahead you’ll have the photos you need to make the gifts you want to give. Finishing your Christmas gifts early is fun and stress free. I think everyone’s Christmas should be that way. Happiness squared.

Goofy Tip: In the process of taking photos for gifts don’t forget to have pictures taken of yourself. People will want to have you in their pictures, too. Pass your camera around, have Cast Members take your picture, or use PhotoPass +. However you do it, you’ll be glad you did.